There are two ways to outsource video conferencing.

1. Work with a 3rd party vendor as an inside service provider on your own video conference network and with your own equipment.
2. Work with an outside service provider to host video conference calls on an external network.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods of outsourcing. Below is a brief overview of the differences between the two:

Inside Service Providers

• Advantages:
  This is a service provided inside of your organization by a 3rd party vendor that specializes in video conferencing or video communications services. The highest level of video network functioning can be expected from a well-trained experienced team of experts managing your internal video conferencing network.

  Many organizations maintain their video networks with their own small staff of skilled technicians. The usual outcome overall is that the network suffers from "rolling outages", a scenario of problems that perpetually spring up at sites all throughout the video network. Ultimately, these problems make video communications unreliable and therefore unusable much of the time. Even the most skilled small group of technicians managing a network that spans an entire region or nation cannot easily ensure all systems are "go" all the time.

In order to ensure a high degree of reliability and a high degree of security, many organizations hire a 3rd party vendor to run their systems internally. It is reasonable to expect 95% up time for video conference networks that are well managed by a reputable vendor. In general, this high degree of up time is attainable because the vendor usually has a small team of technicians that run the network at the customer location and a much larger team available to dispatch globally to resolve problems. Most organizations do not maintain such an extended staff internally.

Additionally a high level of service and confidentiality for video conferences is possible because the 3rd party vendor provides services from the organization's own network and equipment. No outside systems are used. Quality measures can be easily monitored and reported. Technology and upgrades to systems are the responsibility of the vendor acting within the organization as a service provider. Costs are known and generally constant with few surprises.

• Disadvantages:
  Months may be required to enable video conferencing capability within a large organization; this is including time required for designing the network and installing video conferencing equipment. Initial cost of equipment is higher than if an outside service organization were used.

  Using conference rooms for video conferences makes sense from a facilities perspective but this can cause video systems to be under utilized. Normally, in an organization, most meetings and conference room use are for local business without a need to communicate with other facilities or locations. Therefore, video equipment investment can be stranded during every day normal use of conference rooms for local meetings.

  Many organizations assign a central staff to run a video conference network without considering the needs of each remote site. Video conferencing requires at least two locations, each with its own system, network, conference or meeting room and operating instructions. Each location, therefore, normally should have a skilled operator of video systems to assist users in getting a conference started and keeping it running. Few organizations are willing to expend the funds to ensure each endpoint is staffed with a skilled technician and so this skill deficit can cause conference failures in some locations, particularly those that turn systems off daily or reboot frequently.

  Industry manufacturers understand this common problem and are providing software tools and remote management capability with the latest video conference equipment to allow for remote management of systems. Therefore, a well-run network requires either skilled personnel at each endpoint or some form of remote management in order to ensure systems operate well. Some combination of both is usually required to attain high levels of video network up time.

• Advantages:
  This involves rental of rooms and facilities that are owned and maintained by a 3rd party or an "outside vendor". At its best, this type of vendor provided outsourcing allows a customer to walk in, sit down and meet visually across the globe without major capital investment. The service provider will provide all network connections, video conference systems, billing and helpdesk support. This can be a highly convenient way to use video communications for a geographically distributed organization.

  Additionally, it is the service provider's responsibility to maintain meeting rooms all around the world or to maintain its own rental agreements with many vendors that provide such facilities. New technology and upgrades to systems are the responsibility of the service provider and their affiliates. Therefore, an organization that uses an outside service provider for video conferencing can be free of the many infrastructure, personnel and training issues that are required to install, maintain and operate a video communications network.

• Disadvantages:
  Low level of convenience in meeting times and locations. Rental rooms are often scheduled back-to-back by the outside vendor. Vendors maximize the utilization of the video conference equipment and therefore the focus of the service is not on increasing customer productivity but instead on increasing the productivity of the vendor's video equipment. Additionally, the outside vendor manages all the factors associated with video communications pricing and costs.

About TKO
TKO Video Communications provides outsourcing, equipment (Sony, Tandberg, Cisco Systems, Radvision, Polycom, Initia AccessSwitch), services and technical support for global video conferencing networks. We distinguish ourselves from all vendors in the video communications industry by providing high quality video conference outsourcing, video solutions and products with unparalleled attention to our client's objectives.

Sony | Tandberg | 550 | 880 | 1000 | 7000 | MCU | Codec | Monitors
Webex | Forgent | System | Conference Tables | Cart | Polycom